The current energy crisis continues to wreak havoc here in the UK, with both consumers and businesses citing the rise in fuel costs as the reason why they’re struggling to make ends meet. And as energy bills show no sign of coming down, a survey carried out by NerdWallet has found that almost half of all UK businesses are currently considering closing down as a result.
The financial comparison site surveyed 500 businesses owners and senior decision makers in the UK, and their findings are concerning to say the least. 45% say that closures are a very real possibility, and just 11% predict that they will come out of this unscathed.
When asked how they were attempting to reduce energy usage and keep costs down, lots of businesses revealed that flexible working had been implemented in the workplace- allowing more hybrid or full work from home schedules in place of the traditional 9-5. This seems to be helping to keep energy costs down, but other restrictions being put in place might not be as favourable to employees: some businesses admitted that staff were no longer allowed to charge their phone at work, and a quarter of all those surveyed also said that they’d been forced to cut their workforce due to rising costs.
Business are also having to raise prices to keep up with rising bills, with 43% saying that this is no longer a last resort, and a further 8% admitting price increases were on the cards for them too. Other companies are having to find ways to cut the budget elsewhere, with 43% saying staff training costs were no longer viable, and 38% being forced to halt new hires as a way of staying afloat. 36% of the businesses surveyed have also downsized their office space considerably, in order to keep bills manageable.
It seems that the results of this survey might come as no surprise to anyone experiencing similar challenges, but the extent to which UK businesses are struggling is immense. Businesses surely now need reassurances for the future if they are to set budgets in place and avoid going under.